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beneaththebrim · 1 year

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“An Immortal’s Absence, Three Centuries Hence” by Musuli - promo

So, why should you read Shangxian?

At first glance, 《不见上仙三百年》 - “An Immortal’s Absence, Three Centuries Hence” (shortened to Shangxian for convenience) by 木苏里 - Musuli, seems a par-for-the-course xianxia danmei featuring a love affair between a demon and an immortal with karmic entanglements. It’s a classic set-up, and likers of the xianxia genre won’t need any more convincing than that to read it—It does hit the familiar notes of complicated pasts, forbidden relationships, and fighting against forces of fate.

However, this is Musuli we’re talking about; Shangxian is a xianxia that plays into her wheelhouse. It is a xianxia that, despite being—and I cannot emphasize this enough—grand in scale and narrative ambition, coalesces around intimacy and interiority. So it doesn’t make sense to talk about all the plot devices to try and sell this thing. It’s all about the emotions.

Considering her previous work, 《判官》 - “Panguan,” one can see the thematic thoroughfares Musuli has been investigating through her recent work: In the xuanhuan novel Panguan, the main characters are essentially metaphysical therapists; in that world, when a person’s feelings and regrets are too heavy and hard to face, they form “cages” that entrap both the originator of the feelings as well as anyone unlucky enough to stumble upon them. The titular “panguan” of the story dissolve these cages and set free all those entrapped within.

In Shangxian, we don’t have quite the same set-up, but the core of the novel—all the arcs in the beginning along with the main arcs they orbit—deal with the same sort of stuff: The helpless prisons characters build for themselves out of grief and remorse, and the necessity of having people who can lend a hand to pull them out. The xianxia setting operates by amplifying the interiority of regret to an epic scale.

Hence, we see the theme of destructive grief and remorse echoed in Shangxian’s very worldbuilding—In the beginning, we’re introduced to a world devastated, a world in which foul demons—humans who have been corrupted by taking the wrong path and harming too many people—have depleted the population and run rampant. Most of the foul demons we meet, however, are forged of tragedy surrounding a kernel of love and attachment; they harbor intense self-revulsion for having fallen to their current state��which in turn fuels their so-called “calamity periods,” when the souls of those they’ve killed backlash, forcing them to kill even more to suppress the resultant pain and cold (which then worsens their next calamity period).

Vast swaths of plot are devoted to characters carrying regrets for having been unable to stop such vicious cycles, and attempting to reverse their actions through even more destructive means.

The main characters are thus tasked with undoing the damage of these cycles, and of ultimately overturning the mechanism driving them. Because when the system is rotten, to punish individuals for their destructive actions is little more than drinking poison to quench thirst.

All the while, Wu Xingxue and Xiao Fuxuan must confront their own regrets and past entanglements.

Speaking of the main characters (art from manhua, edits done by Vid):

Wu Xingxue, the shou, is an extrovert who loves the hustle and bustle of the world, loves to tease and laugh and gossip. He tends to wear silver-filigreed white clothing, with a liking for white jade and opera. He is also the demon among the two.

Xiao Fuxuan, on the other hand, has a subdued temperament, and is usually seen wearing matte black clothing, with three funeral nails driven through his ear—rather grave for an immortal. But like his name (萧 - desolate, 复暄 - redoubled warmth), he is cold on the outside but warm within. He’s regarded as a quiet, solitary soul, but always makes exceptions to snark back at his husband a certain demon.

(He is so soft. So soft. He lies to Wu Xingxue a lot, but only because he loves him. The archetypal comfort gong.)

There is also a wonderful side cast of two fourteen gremlin children, a virtuous scholar, a severely fucked up family, and a tragic side pairing who will squeeze your heart with their missed chances.

If you love themes of grief—grief for one’s past self, grief for those one has lost, grief for a better world—and love and connection as balms for that grief, you’ll love Shangxian.

*****

For access to my completed translation, I require proof of payment of the original. To get access to the folder, please send me a (non-anonymous) ask or DM with 1) a screenshot of your recent spending record on jjwxc, AND, 2) your fandom/burner email (please do not send me an email address with your irl name, and please make sure it is a gmail account so that it is compatible with the invite/access system). For details, see the intro document for my translation.

Original novel on jjwxc

I am also translating the ongoing Shangxian manhua, with help from Vid (cyanoty on tumblr), Xuan (xuqnji on tumblr), and Jane (@chaosblessings on twitter) for cleaning and typesetting. Translations are currently in the same large gfolder as the novel.

#不见上仙三百年 #木苏里 #shangxian #musuli #danmei #an immortal's absence three centuries hence #translation #wu xingxue #xiao fuxuan

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lizhly-writes · 10 months

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ohhh novel recs pretty please? favs/best of a genre/best of 2022? love your writing so what you read must be great too

Hi there.

It has been a while since you sent this. I would like you to know I didn’t ignore it -- thank you very much for your opinion of my writing, by the way! It is simply… I wanted to recommend you a lot of things. I binged to try and find some things that I could 100% recommend with my entire chest! With no stipulations! With no regret!

I only found one thing. I panicked about only having one thing, and kept trying to find more things. In retrospect, I should have gone through completed novels, because that would have stopped me from going “this was good until this one thing happened”, like I did with... several novels, but hey.

I was actually going to reread all of these just to make SURE, but if I did that, I would probably accidentally make this into a best of 2023 list, SO. Here we go.

The one novel that I will recommend with my entire chest is!!!

Demon Venerable Also Wants to Know

'Second male lead' receives copy of the shitty romance novel he lives in and immediately goes "haaaaa why the fuck am I supposed to like this female lead". He starts investigating and comes to some wild ass conclusions. Some of them utterly ridiculous! Others that show that the original shitty romance novel is not quite as brain dead as it initially seems. I like the layers to this thing, the shenanigans they get up to, I even fully like the romance in here (BL, if you were wondering), which is kind of rare for me. Also, shout out to the most interesting og female lead in this genre I've ever seen! This novel is without flaw! Without any possibility of error! I really, truly, had zero complaints. If I actually ranked this novel on novelupdates, I would give it a full 5 stars!

Honorable mentions:

100,000/Hour Professional Stand-in

This is the kind of cnovel you read if you are just so, so incredibly tired of our dear sister transmigrator getting pursued by some weird possessive CEO. Our mc is very calm, very heartless, and perfectly happy to extort so much money out of the people in love with her twin sister. The ending drags a little, and there is a romance in there which I think is unnecessary, but overall, still very good.

Zombie University

Ta-da! The zombie apocalypse happens, and our main character has get deal with it with his ex hovering uncomfortably right there in his adventuring party. I have not finished this novel, and in fact, I am not even caught up on this novel -- I believe I must have left off around chapter 30? -- but it gets a mention here because I really like survival-type stories, and furthermore, I was frankly blown away by the characters and the dynamics between them. I pawed sadly at the novelupdates page for about two weeks before I accepted that I wasn't getting an update anytime soon. AND NOW I SEE IT'S UPDATED WAY MORE SINCE THEN SO I WILL BE CHECKING THIS OUT AGAIN.

Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

An unlimited/infinite flow novel, in which our mc is an NPC throughout various instances, or Nightmares, as they call them. I will admit that it can get repetitive, since a lot of the time, our characters are trying to figure out what the fuck is going on and end up reiterating some points, and then our mc is in a primarily passive role -- might be frustrating to a witty reader who is very good at putting things together themselves, but I personally liked it, haha. I was admittedly not very fond of the ending, but I enjoyed the characters finding out the mysteries behind the instances, and the larger mystery made me want to claw my hands through the pages to figure out what the fuck was happening.

I Ship My Adversary X Me

Guy ends up shipping himself with his fanon adversary. I find guy really eloquent in his narration, which only helps with the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. Living in this guy's head is so fun. There is a manhua. It is cute, but read the novel, the vibes are way goofier. Uh, there is like... one nsfw scene, if I recall correctly, but it's easily skipped, if it bothers you.

When a Fanfic Protagonist Transmigrated Into The Original Novel (kinda nsfw)

Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. This pokes fun at the tendency to warp ostensibly straight male characters into certain BL stereotypes in fanfiction. The translation is unfinished, but what was there killed me. It is really ridiculous and I love that.

Don’t Hide From Me! (also kinda nsfw no, i change my mind, it's not super explicit, but it's significantly more nsfw than the previous two up there.)

Character A plans to confess his crush on his homophobic best friend, Character B. The plot is the leadup and followup to that. Also blatantly ridiculous, because our Character B treats our Character A in what most people would consider very unplatonic ways, which confuse character A, and also me, and also everyone I liveblogged to, because I liveblogged the entirety of my reading of this on discord. Unfinished, but on this list anyway because I screamed a lot about it and shared exactly how ridiculous it was with everyone around me and ended up roping at least three people into reading with me. It was that kind of novel. If you read, I recommend reading with friends because you will want to shake someone over it. I certainly did.

#cnovel recs #asks #anon

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yuexuan · 2 years

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[review]山海高中

Title: 山海高中 Shanhai High School

Author: 语笑阑珊

Length: 103 chapters + 9 extras

Rating: G

Tag: Urban fantasy/mythology, slice of life, comedy

Summary [taken from novel updates]:

Lin Jing was pretty much your average good student, as he was serious, diligent, and polite.

After his second-grade high school transferred, he was forcibly recruited to become a minion of the troubled student, who had ranked first from last in the grade.

In this regard, Lin Jing had confusedly raised a question, “Why?”

Ji XingLing, who hung a school uniform over his shoulders, sloppily leaned against the wall, as the golden sunlight fell on the tip of his hair. “Can’t help it; blame yourself for being a careless little monster.”

Lin Jing, “?”

It’s over; this boy must have a loose screw.

On the day of his eighteenth birthday, Young Master Ji who had styled all over his hair with pomade, was blocking people at the door, and while felt himself as a domineering President, “Are you free tomorrow?”

Lin Jing was panicky, “Ji XingLing! Ji XingLing! Your Qilin tail is showing again!”

It is a casual school life fantasy and Qilin’s attack.

Novel| Novel [translated]| Manhua

Comments **contains spoilers**:

I don’t have much to say about this novel other than this is a light read, filled with fluffy interactions between the main CP and the people around them. Some highlights of the novel:

The MC (Lin Jing) is extremely studious and refuses to date ML (Xing Ling) until he scores above 500 in exams lol. A large part of the novel is just the ML working hard to catch up on his scores and negotiating with the MC about the threshold of his ‘passing score’ for dating.

Unlike a lot of slice-of-life stories with mythological creatures, the characters didn’t know each other’s mythological identity. Cue cute scenes where the characters are surprised to learn each other’s identity: e.g. MC’s mom doesn’t know how her kid is a rare plant-based mythological creature since she isn’t one. It’s only later that they found out the dad, who doesn’t believe in supernatural/fantasy stories, is actually a plant mythological creature himself.

The ML’s family is wholesome: his father is a kylin who likes to show-off his son by turning Xing Ling into his kylin form and carrying him up into the skies to show off in front of other mythological creatures. His mother is a 9-tailed fox who encourages the MC and ML’s relationship because she wants her son’s grades to improve lol.

Overall, the writing style is funny and full of ‘tucao’ (i.e. roasting; to make fun of something)

#danmei #Shanhai high school #山海高中 #review

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minmotl · 3 years

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[ENG] 一剑霜寒 A Sword of Frost by 语笑阑珊 | Translations Masterpost

Note: Hi guys, this is the masterpost for translated 一剑霜寒 translations! I will be trying to translate in full, maybe one chapter a week I don’t know because y’all know how much life and laziness gets in the way for me but this is honestly my fave novel and I have not seen any lasting translations for this so far + I’ve gotten some requests on my main blog, so here it is.

Translations: Translations are entirely mine, some phrases might be edited based on my own interpretation. I’ll try to explain some of the idioms/metaphors etc. at the end of each chapter. As with most historical setting novels, the terms used may be a bit difficult and I struggle a little, but we’ll see XD If there are any historical notes I’ll put them in but I’m not an expert as well, so do take my interpretations with a pinch of salt!

❌❌❌ Please do not take out without credit or repost elsewhere, especially without permission! ❌❌❌

*Banner done by me, image used is from official manhua art*

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Official Summary

全国百姓都在传，萧王季燕然武功高强，风流倜傥。如此天潢贵胄，将来要娶的那个人，定然也是琴棋书画、煮饭烹茶样样精通。寻常人家羡慕不来，羡慕不来。萧王府内。这日，季燕然偶感风寒，卧床不起。云倚风亲自下厨，淘米摘菜，炖鸡汤。片刻之后，萧王殿下抱病赶来，头晕眼花关切道：“下人都说你在厨房炼蛊，云儿可是又要杀谁？”

Prince Xiao, Ji Yan Ran, is highly skilled in martial arts, well-learned and unconventional in his ways - this is what the country’s people are talking about. He is of royal blood and the person he will marry in the future must be one who is well-versed on all fronts, including musical instruments, strategic games, knowledge, art and even cooking. The regular folk cannot even begin to be envious of his future match.

Within Prince Xiao’s Manor - On this day, Ji Yan Ran has a cold and is stuck in bed. Yun Yi Feng personally cooks; taking the rice, cleaning the vegetables and making chicken soup.

After a moment, His Highness Prince Xiao rushes over even though he is ill, and asks in a concerned tone despite how dizzy he is, “The servants say you’re performing witchcraft in the kitchen, who are you trying to kill this time Yun Er?”

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Introduction - Characters | Cases Outline | Original Novel Source + Other Materials & Links

*Please read the introduction which is actually my full rec post with greater summaries and details of this novel. I’ve also outlined the main two characters in this, and all the links you’ll need everywhere. It’s a TINY bit spoiler-y but nothing of importance, but this is also not really necessary to read if you wanna be surprised!

*Please support the author and the original publication on JJWXC. There are plenty of guides going about as to how you can buy the chapters or credits, and they’re very affordable as well, even if you don’t read Chinese! ✨ ✨ ✨

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Chapters (159 + 3 extras)

✏ Chapter 1 - 皇宫失窃 | A Royal Palace Theft

✏ Chapter 2 - 大雪封山 | A Blizzard Trap Atop a Mountain

✏ Chapter 3 - 一个警告 | A Warning

✏ Chapter 4: 江湖规矩 | The Rules of Jianghu

✏ Chapter 5: 蛛丝银铃 | Spider Silk & Silver Bells

✏ Chapter 6: 夜半疗伤 | Treating an Injury in the Middle of the Night

✏ Chapter 7: 谁是凶手 | Who is The Murderer

✏ Chapter 8: 旧时梦魇 | Nightmares of the Past

#a sword of frost #一剑霜寒 #danmei #danmei translations #minmotl #yun yifeng #ji yanran

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shijiujun · 3 years

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ANOTHER REC from the author who wrote The Wife is First 妻为上! I’ve actually read like six of her novels so far (will do a compilation soon heh) and 绿野千鹤 (the author) is very fond of transmigration, going back in time, reincarnation, revival and everything, and she’s also very fond of historical settings where men can marry men, in varying degrees, and this is one of them!!!! This is a very feel good novel, just like The Wife if First - considered a sweet, not complex novel.

(And for those asking about reading difficulty levels, this is actually not very complicated, so if y’all wanna read in Chinese, you can actually try this!)

- Part of Min’s ‘Why You Should Read’ Series -

Summary:

At his deathbed in his 20s, emperor Yu Jin Tang tells his male empress Song Xiao to die with him right before he passes away from a severe injury sustained from war. Devastated and also willing to die with him, Song Xiao is about slit his own throat when Jin Ling, Jin Tang’s younger brother who’s next in line for the throne, reads out the imperial decree to have Song Xiao be given a wangye title and assist Jin Lin in his rule, a decree that Jin Tang made before he died, of course not expecting Song Xiao to die with him.

Song Xiao slits his own throat anyway after killing the man who dealt his husband with the fatal blow, and wakes up in 16 year-old Song Xiao’s body in the modern world. He’s in the hospital after an accident, and is entirely confused with this world. He also wonders where Jin Tang is, if he also travelled to this world after his death, but Song Xiao first has to get used to the modern world, to his father, who is the CEO of an entertainment company, unofficial stepmother (who is an actress under the company and had an affair with Song Xiao’s father) and stepsister.

After recovery, Song Xiao gets to school and becomes tablemates with someone who looks exactly like Jin Tang, called Yu Tang, who is the heir to the wealthy Yu family.

Cue Yu Tang and Song Xiao trying to test each other out to see if they really transmigrated to this world and have memories of their past life, navigate their families and find other transmigrated people from that dynasty in their current timeline. Yu Tang and Song Xiao also reaffirm their love for each other after clearing up the misunderstanding that led Yu Jin Tang to go off to war suddenly that year, which inadvertently led to his death after.

Read:

Novel (Online) | Novel (Print) - Not Available | Novel Translations | Manhua

Characters:

1. 宋箫 Song Xiao - In his past life he was a scholar who first met YJT at a palace feast, and YJT fell in love with him at first sight and was adamant on marrying him as his empress. The previous emperor caught wind of this and wanted to execute Song Xiao, but his grandfather begged the emperor to spare his grandson in exchange for his life. He loves YJT but in his past life was always carrying the burden of the empress title and was never close to YJT in public, and in private, he repeatedly refused to sleep with YJT because he was scared of the pain, but also did not tell YJT that this was the reason for his rejection, leading to YJT thinking that Song Xiao must really hate him/not love him.

After he commits suicide and transmigrates to the modern world, he’s the 16-year old son of the CEO of a huge entertainment company, and lives with his father, stepmother and stepsister. Before he transmigrated, the current him was diagnosed with autism and he was non-verbal, until his stepmother/stepsister hurt him and led to him being in a coma. He wakes up from the coma having transmigrated after, and is so confused at all the nurses, plus he has all his ancient traditional habits - the way he talks, his hand gestures etc. He was caught calling his stepmother a concubine LMAO in public, and only has two months to get used to the modern world before he’s tossed into school, where he meets YJT again. And as expected he forgets himself frequently and ends up greeting people traditionally like this LOL:

Considered to be a real pretty boy HAHAHAHA as expected, but before he transmigrated he was often the subject of bullying. He ends up rooming with YJT, and they start second-guessing whether each other has transmigrated. It’s hilarious because even before confirming that he is indeed YJT, Song Xiao is so used to things like feeding YJT chicken wings, helping him with his clothes etc. from back in his days as empress, and YJT in modern world is also like used to it and then when they realize their actions they’re like ???? hold on, are you...

Totally doesn’t get Math (like all of us), but luckily he’s so smart and picks up all his academic material quickly.

2. 虞锦堂/虞堂 Yu Jin Tang/Yu Tang - Went against laws and his father in his past life to marry Song Xiao, and really, really loves him. He always doubts that Song Xiao loves him back, however, because of the way he basically forced Song Xiao to marry him, and did not take in any concubines etc. in the year they spent together before he died. They argued over this, which led to him going to war in anger, and to his eventual death. On his deathbed, out of spite and anger at his impending demise, he asks Song Xiao to die with him, but does not mean it, having already planned Song Xiao’s future for him.

He wakes up in his new body as an 11 year-old named Yu Tang, 5 years before Song Xiao transmigrates despite their deaths being minutes apart. At some point he goes to read historical books and is furious and devastated when he reads that Song Xiao killed himself after he died, and wonders if it’s because Jin Lin didn’t tell Song Xiao about the decree.

He’s been waiting for Song Xiao to turn up, and when he does, Yu Tang finds himself testing Song Xiao to see if he really has his memories or not, and even plots for Song Xiao to room with him because Yu Tang gets pissed at the thought of someone else seeing Song Xiao’s body as he comes out of the bath everyday HAHAHA.

In this modern world, he no longer has to deal with the burden of country etc., and one of the possible heirs to the Yu fortune and empire, he now only has to deal with greedy relatives and a grandfather who may oppose same-sex relationships, but smart Yu Tang knows what he’s doing and is more than familiar with fighting for the throne in his past life, and now in this life. Because he lost so much in the previous life, he’s now plotting to keep everything, including Song Xiao.

3. 虞锦麟 Yu Jin Lin - YJT’s younger brother, who also transmigrated to the modern world the year Song Xiao does, but in his past life he dies much later than his brother and Song Xiao did out of natural causes. He is reborn as Yu Tang’s baby brother, and this baby has ALL THEM MEMORIES.

4. 独孤暗 Du Gu An - Yu Tang’s current same-age bodyguard, was picked up from the streets by Yu Tang when they were both younger. He was the head of YJT’s secret army in his past life, who transmigrated over.

Other Things I Like in the Novel:

In private, Yu Tang and Song Xiao refer to each other frequently as emperor and empress, but they’re conscious to not say it in public because they know people will wonder if they’re insane hahaha

Yu Tang ran for President of the Student’s Club, won, and then changed all the names of the different committees in school (cleaning committee, disciplinary committee etc.) into historical ministry names like, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Justice etc. hahaha

They acknowledge each other quite early on in the book and it’s so sweet from then on! Technically even though they’re 16 year-olds here in spirit they’re like... they’ve lived another lifetime together, so Yu Tang refers to Song Xiao as his wife and empress, and keeps stealing kisses etc.

The man who killed YJT in his past life was reborn as Yu Tang’s literal dog in the modern world, and a lot of characters transmigrated/were reborn as well, including YJT’s eunuch gonggong, who is actually a high-ranking butler now in the main Yu family branch and who has also been waiting for YJT to turn up in the modern world. When Song Xiao first meets him, his eyes automatically go to the butler’s crotch LMAOOO

YJT’s sister was also reborn as his sister, and because he wasn’t able to protect her in his past life, he’s very thankful that he can do so now

It’s really cute because there’s even an overseas academic exchange part. Outside of school they also try to navigate their relationships with their families, and it’s impressive to see how Song Xiao and Yu Tang deal with their pesky relatives, work etc.

Song Xiao has to defend himself (with the help of Yu Tang) against his stepmother, and another woman that his Dad had another affair with etc., but all these tactics are elementary to him as he recalls how his siblings in his past life were much more merciless and scheming than this towards him LOL

#danmei #danmei recs #emperor don't bother me #皇上别闹 #绿野千鹤 #huang shang bie nao #another one for yall!!!#min's why you should read #written by the same author who wrote the wife is first

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lunabonita · 3 years

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My Webtoon Recommendations

These are webtoons that are all 10/10 for me. Of course it doesn’t have to be a 10/10 for you, so just a reminder, do not attack me for liking a webtoon that you do not. These are my opinions and we are not going to have the exact same taste. Please be respectful.

Your Throne

Genre: Fantasy

Chapters: 75

Status: Ongoing

“Tensions are brewing under the seemingly calm surface of the Vasilios Empire, a kingdom ruled by the Imperial Family and the Temple. Lady Medea Solon has lost her place next to Crown Prince Eros, but resolves to win back whats rightfully hers. Will she reclaim her throne?”

You know whats amazing about this webtoon? The summary leads you to think that what shes winning back is the prince. Wrong. Shes trying to win back the throne. I love how this webtoon doesn’t try to make it a girl focusing her goals on a man, but on power. Medea is such a strong and well written character that you can’t help but love her.

The second protagonist Pschye, who of which is the person who took Medeas place as Crown Princess, is the complete opposite of Medea. At the beginning you hate her, but as the webtoon goes on and Medea and her get a better understanding of eachother due to them switching bodies as a wish from God, you begin to root for them as they team up to take over the throne from the Crown Prince.

The art is so beautiful and I constantly found myself at awe from the amount of detail put into it.

The Makeup Remover

Genre: Romace

Chapters: 78

Status: Ongoing

“After years of being told to focus on studying, Yeseul feels lost when she starts college and is suddenly expected to pay attention to makeup. When a chance encounter with brilliant makeup artist Yuseong leads to her taking part in a televised makeup competition, Yeseul begins to question the role that makeup and appearance play in society.”

This was created by one of my favorite webtoon creators Lee Yone. Their art is just so amazing and their stories always include such good topics.

For instance, The Makeup Remover’s theme is loving yourself for who you are. It shows how people treat you based on your looks and as someone whos struggled with that kind of thing for a while, this webtoon really touched me. The main character Yeseul is such a relatable character, even when trying to reject beauty standards, she still came subject to the pressures of living up to the people around her. She struggles with trying to love her own appearance and I really like that this webtoon didn’t try to be like, ‘fuck the beauty standard im better than that screw pretty people!!!’ it actually showed realistically how people struggle with self-image. I also love the main love interest because oh my god, we need more men like him please. He doesn’t care about Yeseul’s appearance and genuinely loves her for her personality.

Also, art is amazing. The author is so talented and you should support them by reading and liking the chapters.

Surviving Romance

Genre: Horror

Chapters: 14

Status: Ongoing

“When Chaerin Eun becomes the protagonist of the romance novel she is reading, she expects a fairytale ending with the novel’s love interest, Jeha. But when a bizarre twist makes her realize the story is not playing out as it does in the book, she’ll need the help of an unlikely character from her class to defy the new storyline and find her happy ending - if only she can figure out who this ‘Unknown Extra’ is first!”

Hands down one of my favorite webtoons by a long shot. You ever see a webtoon and think, ‘oh yeah, thats going to be a good webtoon’? Thats how this webtoon was for me. It was so good that I spent hours searching for other chapters that hadn’t been uploaded to webtoon yet on other manhua websites. I discovered it because it was also by the author of ‘The Makeup Remover’.

If there is one thing you need to know about me, its that I am a huge horror fan. So when I saw that my favorite author on webtoon had a horror themed webtoon out? You bet your behind that I binged it. Let me tell you, best choice ever.

Think of it as if ‘Ino’s Law’ and ‘Quarantine’ were combined with amazing art and a badass MC.

The Remarried Empress

I love how it is set up to the point where she cannot ‘quit’ until she completes the novel. Creating scenarios where she must survive while meeting the standards in the book. It is such an amazingly written webtoon and I cannot wait for more chapters to be released.

Genre: Fantasy

Chapters: 82

Status: Ongoing

“Navier Ellie Trovi was an empress perfect in every way - intelligent, courageous, and socially adept. She was kind to her subjects and devoted to her husband. Navier was perfectly content to live the rest of her days as the wise empress of the Eastern Empire. That is, until her husband brought hone a mistress and demanded a divorce. ‘I accept this divorce… And i request an approval of my remarriage.’ In a shoking twist Navier remaarries another emperor and retains her title and childhood dream as empress. But just how did everything unfold? “

Am I in love with Navier? Yes.

I absolutely adore how this story was set up. The first chapter begins with the big divorce scene, followed by Navier saying that she was going to be remarrying someone else since he wants to divorce her. This sets up a picture that gets completely shattered as you read the chapters. How everything falls into place with the reason behind the divorce and the remarriage is just so well written. The art is so good and and everything is just so insanely well done.

I absolutely love Naviers character, from her regalness and devoted loyalty to her role as empress, all the way to her petty moments and times of sadness. She is truly a character that you want the best for, and I cannot image anyone not liking her. Also the story is just so capable of making you feel emotions. I’ve laughed, cried, and got angry during the course of reading this webtoon. I love how betrayed I felt when the emperor brought home his mistress. It felt like I was in Navier’s shoes!

This is such a well done webtoon and I'm so excited for Navier to get all of the good things she deserves in her new Kingdom and with her new husband.

Witch Creek Road

Genre: Horror

Chapters: 74

Status: Ongoing

“A survival horror about love, acceptance, death, and revenge. And sexy flesh-eating demons. Yeah, it has those, too.”

This series seriously mind fucked me. The way that this story is set up, you don’t see the full picture until the later chapters. Season two literally blew my mind. It is also very gorey so keep that in mind if you don’t like that kind of stuff, but for me that makes it all the better. It is just so wild and crass that you can feel your heart pumping in anticipation.

They even have their own website that goes further into the lore because it’s just so wild. Also the art style is just so amazing, because it complements the story and horror theme so much. You hate most of the characters because they suck, and it is so satisfying when they are killed. Also it has it’s sad moments but I think it is a nice break from the horror so it isn’t so overwhelmingly scary.

I binged this series and I recommend reading only a few chapters a day so you don’t overload your brain.

Other then that, an amazing webtoon. Seriously, go read it, support the author, so much work goes into the story and art that it’s insane.

Dating With A Tail

Genre: Romance

Chapters: 36

Status: Ongoing

“On the dawn of her 29th birthday, unlucky-in-love Yunha discovers a shocking family secret: she’s started growing a fox tail, the mark of an ancestral curse. She must find her fated love before her 30th birthday or she is destined to become a fox forever! Even with her new-found enchanting power to attract men using her scent, will one year be enough to break the curse before it’s too late?”

Oh my gosh this is just such a good webtoon. It has amazing art, story telling, and characters. The true love interest was there the whole time, the villain isn’t who you’d expect it to be, and the spirit who cursed her is just! Im not going to spoil it but go read this webtoon!! It is so good and deserves more love.

Also Yunha is just so relatable?? Like she put off finding the woodcutter (her fated love) for 29 years and waited last minute to find him. Homegirl is me trying to do a project for school. Also to get rid of the scent that makes men attracted to her, she just starts eating a ton of garlic and that is just so funny to me.

Also I would go to church for the priest anytime if you know what i mean ;)

Omniscient Reader

Genre: Action

Chapters: 53

Status: Ongoing

“Dokja was an average office worker whose sole interest was reading his favorite web novel ‘Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse.’ But when the novel suddenly becomes reality, he is the only person who knows how the world will end. Armed with this realization, Dokja uses his understanding to change the course of the story, and the world, as he knows it.”

I cannot get over how high quality this story is. The world building is phenomenal, the art is fantastic, and the characters are very fleshed out. This deserved all the hype it has gotten so far and more.

I love the ‘mc thrown into a different reality’ trope so much. Just like with surviving romance, Dokja’s world became the story he was reading. Also a very cool aspect of the story is the level up and the fact that its like a game. Earth has turned into this show for god like creatures to watch and it follows Dokja trying to survive. I also really like that TWSA has a protagonist, but Omniscient Reader’s protagonist is not the protagonist that was in TWSA. There is just so much lore and I’ll say it again, the world building is just phenomenal.

The Ddokkaebi’s and Dokja’s interactions are also just some of my favorite moments from the story so far. And oh my goodness I would die for Lee Gilyoung. Thats it, thats the tweet. That little boy could probably kill me with his giant praying mantis and I would let him if it would make him happy.

Not So Shoujo Love Story

Genre: Comedy

Chapters: 45

Status: Ongoing

“Romance super-fan Rei Chan is ready for her first boyfriend and she knows just who it’ll be: the most handsome boy in school, Hansum Ochinchin. But her plans for the perfect story are derailed when the most popular girl in class declares herself a rival… for Rei’s heart?! This is the year her not so shoujo love story begins!”

This is just such a cute webtoon. The style is very appealing and while the humor can be childish and weird sometimes, it still has made me laugh a lot. I know the humors not for everyone but just keep in mind that it does get better as the story progresses and gets more serious.

Also its a gl! I’m really unable to find good gls these days that don’t fetishize wlw relationships. Rei being painted as a mean trouble maker whos just misunderstood and Hana being the ‘perfect girl’ who only wants Rei’s attention is such a cute dynamic. They balance each other out and better each other. Also stan Rei for constantly sticking up for Hana even if she doesn’t necessarily like her in the beginning, she has very good morals and sticks to them.

Also the defying stereotypes in this webtoon? Just god-tier. Really makes you think twice when you judge someone just on first impressions alone.

Odd Girl Out

Genre: Drama

Chapters: 264

Status: Ongoing

“After a successful winter break makeover, Nari is finally ready for her high school debut. But somehow, she ends up friends with the three prettiest girls in school! Follow Nari as she tries to navigate her brand new high school life surrounded by beauties.”

This story has made me cry multiple times. A lot, even. It is just such a beautiful tale of friendship and finding support in people who are unlike those around theme. It also tells a great story about how anybody can be the ‘odd girl out’. Be it the fat girl, the beautiful girl, the rich girl, or the laid back girl.

It goes so deep into its characters that you even feel bad for the minor antagonists. It really makes you feel for the characters and the reasons behind their actions. Also I know its long, believe me I binged all 260 chapters in the span of three days, but oh my god it is worth it. Also I know the art is kind of off-putting, in fact that’s kind of why I put off reading the story, but I’ve honestly grown to love it and the writing is so good that the art could be literal stick figures and it wouldn’t matter.

The story is amazing and also I just love Nari. She’s just the best.

Gremoryland

Genre: Horror

Chapters: 67

Status: Completed

“Six old school friends are invited to be the first visitors of GremoryLand, a new horror theme park that promises an experience as unique as it is spooky. But once this experience starts there is no turning back, and they find themselves tested beyond what they imagines, facing their most desperate fears in order to survive.”

This is definitely one of those stories were you kind of need to turn of your brain and choose to ignore ‘plot holes’ while reading the early chapters because this story definitely gets crazy if you don’t know the ending. Believe me if you stick with it it will all make sense and the satisfaction you get from finding the ending is just so worth it.

The story is so good, and who Gremory is you would literally never suspect. When it was revealed who Gremory was and how he was able to create Gremoryland is so fucking mind boggling that you would never guess. I had to do a double take. It wasn’t like one of those random characters with a vendetta type of twists, but like one you can pick out from clues throughout the story.

Its so good and twisted and just so worth at least giving it a chance.

These were some of my favorite webtoons on the app! Of course it’s not all of them because unfortunately there is a 10 image limit. I also made this because I’ve run out of new webtoons to read and would love if you guys commented some of your own recs. I can also do a part two with other ones I liked if y’all want more recommendations. You guys can even request specific categories like Drama or Sci-Fi and I can tell you my favorite ones from that genre.

Also a reminder - if you disagree with any of my praise of these webtoons be respectful about it. At the end of the day it’s my opinion and you don’t need to be rude when disagreeing with that opinion.

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xiyao-feels · 3 years

Note

the anti-NMJ mustache anon here!

I do love the xiyao dynamic a lot. As a person who first read 3zun fics, I ended up liking xiyao a lot more and went out of my way looking for fics centering around them. I can’t pinpoint exactly what I like so much about them, but it’s absolutely fascinating.

And yeah, the donghua versions have no right to look that fine. Literally every character looks perfect?! Even WRH and JGS?? I feel so betrayed. And don’t get me started on the chibi characters. I think that’s what essentially got me into the fandom in the first place.

Sadly, most people post stuff from the drama, so it makes me sad.

Ahahahaha, fair cop, anon!

It might interest you to know that hot WRH and JGS have some canon support XD

WRH:

A voice laughed madly, “Let it be!”

It was a youthful voice. Wei WuXian wasn’t the least surprised. Wen RuoHan’s level of cultivation was extremely high, so of course his corporal body was also perfectly maintained in its prime.

(ER trans, ch. 49)

JGS:

Suddenly, a row of cultivators wearing white, gold-lined robes rushed out, dressed in light armor and riding on broad stallions. The frontmost person had handsome features, protected by the same armor. It was the sect leader, Jin GuangShan.

(ER trans, ch. 69—and thanks to mercyandmagic's excellent thread of common novel misconceptions on twitter, I couldn't remember where the source for this was)

Not at all saying this is what you like about xiyao, but taking the opportunity to ramble some because I really do love them—

They're so good!!!! They click really immediately and they come together—not necessarily as lovers, but definitely as partners, also pretty immediately. That's really one thing I love about them: they work together, and for the same goals, whether that's saving LXC, or spying on the Wen during Sunshot, or the watchtowers and JGY's grand project. Which they're working on before JGY becomes xiandu!!! I always get emotional at that bit at the stairs, that they're working on the watchtower projects. Their values are different but in a lot of ways more similar to each other's then like anyone else's. A friend of mine from twitter said that they were very similar in many ways, and then also different in compatible ways, which I think is very good. JGY has more—ambition, initiative, vision?—than LXC does, and something I think people miss is that that's something LXC really admires about him!!!! They both admire the other so so much; they just think each other is really cool.

God, they're always spending time together, and considering their schedule!!! You can see that they /like/ each other, they just enjoy being together. They support each other. Obviously JGY does more, and I don't mean to minimize that, but LXC absolutely does stuff too—even aside from repeatedly saving JGY's life, I mean, there's the teaching him the SoC, there's the watchtowers, there's his support at Hejian with the other cultivators, and then telling him about the opportunity at Langya and volunteering to speak to NMJ about it if needed, there's his giving him a handkerchief when Zixun throws wine on him, helping him expand the grounds at the Phoenix Mountain Hunt automatically, without even being asked, he must have supported his bid for xiandu and of course the watchtowers after too, and—it /is/ support, that's the thing, like—he doesn't prioritize his own distress at seeing JGY mistreated, or his anger at people mistreating JGY, over actually helping JGY and helping him achieve his goals. It's—they're friends and partners and allies!!! Really and truly!!!!!

And then both of them are also just profoundly special to each other. I think sometimes people try and make LXC the /only/ person JGY cares about, which is definitely not so—he cares about QS, he cares about JL, he cares about NHS, etc—but LXC is absolutely nevertheless unique, a tier on his very own. I think JGY would kill most people if he had to to survive, but never ever LXC. And meanwhile LXC is—he has a personal connection with very few people, I think, and the two people he cares about the most are LWJ and JGY. He—well, he really is a romantic Lan about him. His preference for JGY's company is really really marked. Actually I don't think I've posted here about how the last scene LXC appears in in the novel—in terms of chapter order not chronology, it's set pre-Sunshot—also has a lot of JGY in it /even though at this point in MDZS they haven't met yet/, but—it does.

And in both MDZS and CQL of course he breaks when JGY dies.

I just. This isn't a grand essay about everything I love about xiyao but I just. They're so good!!! They love each other and support each other and admire each other and just like each other, so much???? They enjoy spending time together???? They work together on common projects????? They understand each other a lot better than most people do, they can just be human with each other, they were friends and partners for almost twenty years!!!!!! Like!!!!!!! They had a really solid and really good relationship!!!! I love them so much and their ending kills me every time.

And they're both kind!!!! And skillfully so!!!! And extraordinarily skilled and competent!!!! And the projects they do undertake—the watchtower program is /huge/ (twelve! hundred! watchtowers! rumours of a planned expansion to three thousand!), it's the kind of thing that will save thousands of lives. Like—/what/ they work on—this maybe isn't flashy but it's going to save so so many people. And it's an ongoing project! It's not one-and-done, JGY is still working at it at the time of the WWX's return and LXC must be working with him on it!!!! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, OKAY, GOD.

...returning to your actual ask—unfortunately I don't know any blogs that mostly post manhua/donghua visuals, but I do wish you good luck!!!

#this is not like my Grand Theory of Xiyao I'm just rambling #but god I love them so much #a gentle warmth filling the deepest of needs

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lunar-magnolia · 3 years

Text

@honestlyshamelesscollector thank you for asking me this!! I'm really happy to share my thoughts, I hope to answer your questions in the best way possible akdjsk

I absolutely agree with you about Xie Lian. He does indeed grow a lot, even though he does so in a traumatic way.

***A little disclaimer: these are just my thoughts here, first impressions having read the novel once, plus watched the donghua and read the manhua a couple of times. I'm no expert at all, but I have lots of feelings about this akdjskfmf

**Putting a read more because long lmao

Young Xie Lian's dream was to become a god and save the common people. And present Xie Lian does it everyday, as much as he can. The biggest lesson he got growing up was probably the fact that he can't save everyone at the same time, but saving (or helping) even just one person was enough. He might be a god, but he is still one person. Having godly powers doesn't make him omniscient or give him the ability to suddenly work on a bigger scale than he could when he was human.

Book 4 in particular highlights just how much the present Xie Lian has changed from the Crown Prince that Pleased The Gods, filled with the idealism of a young man and maybe just a little bit spoiled, to the kind and humble Scrap Immortal that does everything in his power to help the people he comes across.

We see him starting to change as soon as book 2 though. When he tries to both save the Imperial Capital from being invaded and save the Yong'an people from the draught, it's the first time Xie Lian faces the limits of his godly status and power. He divides his time to keep it going for a bit, but in the end he's exhausted and overwhelmed, and he can't do it anymore. Even though he is a god. The inevitable consequences of his own actions and the fall of Xianle challenged his idealism and destroyed his heart so hard that he almost gave in and took his revenge on innocent people. But one person is enough, right?

One could argue that Xie Lian never really had it in him to do it, and I'd probably agree. The whole waiting for someone to help him before releasing the curse, and then trying to sacrifice himself when it eventually was too late to avoid it was enough of an indication for me. It only took the kindness of one person to make him change his heart. If he truly sought revenge, one person wouldn't have been enough. And damn if that didn't ruin Bai Wuxian's plans wonderfully lolll

Xie Lian knew in his heart that the people of Yong'an didn't deserve to pay the price for what happened to Xianle. Even though Bai Wuxian tried (and for a while succeeded) to make him believe it.

Straying from the path that Bai Wuxian wanted him to walk was not as easy as it seems. Bai Wuxian carefully paved all the paths for him, pushed Xie Lian in the directions he wanted him to go with the most violent methods I've ever seen, but Xie Lian always found a way to avoid it, also thanks to Hua Cheng's presence, even when he didn't know it was him (I have so many feelings about that imma cry skfjkefj). Hua Cheng always believed in him and knew what Xie Lian was truly capable of, and boy was he right gdi.

When Xie Lian went through the betrayal of Jun Wu, Hua Cheng's presence reminded him of who Xie Lian is and what he's become. The doubts Bai Wuxian put in his mind, the danger of the Human Face Desease threatening to be freed again, and the resolution to not give in into grief and pain and staying true to the person he had become were again overcome thanks to one person. Xie Lian could have never actually become what Bai Wuxian wanted him to, no matter what he threw at him.

In the end, Xie Lian learnt how to save the common people for real. And he realized that didn't have to do it alone! Instead, the common people themselves were part of the solution (the human array to contain the resentful spirits yknow). It does send an important message, and it's probably the most important thing that Xie Lian learnt: that one person alone cannot save all, if all don't want to be saved. It's a group effort, it takes time and heart and not everyone has it in their heart to risk their lives for the sake of others. Godly powers can only do so much, and a god cannot change fate from above. A god must instead support and protect the people, work with them, give them a boost, and in the end the people will save themselves.

It's a really nuanced and complicated process, I don't know how to explain it properly ajdkfjdl.

It's also worth mentioning that the relationship with Mu Qing and Feng Xin had all the potential to prevent much of what happened to Xie Lian. But just as Xie Lian was young and inexperienced, so were they. And despite all, until Xie Lian stopped thinking of them as servants, he couldn't grow. He had to lose them to truly understand the depth and worth of people believing in him. Which doesn't make it any less painful or sad... Things could have indeed gone differently, but the outcome would have never been the same. I'm glad in the end they kind of sorted it out though.

And the fact that Mu Qing and Feng Xin still cared for Xie Lian when he ascended for the third time was so evident in hindsight. Made me smile when I realized.

Also I liked that in the end Xie Lian didn't go rule the heavens or even go back to it, and instead stayed in the mortal realm to continue doing what he did for the past 800 years. Considering that young Xie Lian said clearly that he wanted to become a god, it's an important thing. It shows that in his mind the concept of gods and their role has changed, and he will stick to his new views despite the possibility of achieving what his young self wanted. Though this isn't just a consequence of book 5, it was shown even earlier when he first visited his palace in the heavens. Xie Lian didn't want to enter it, it made him uncomfortable, and instead sat outside waiting for Shi Qingxuan.

There are so many things to say about Xie Lian but idk if I have the competence to express them all akdjskfj I love his character to bits. His development was not banal in any way, and even though we didn't see all the 800 years it took for him to change, we do feel how gradual that was. Just think of when he met Banyue.

He was still a bit idealistic, telling her that his dream was to save the common people, but he already grew enough of a thick skin to understand when it was worth to pick a fight or not, and he wasn't picky on food (even cooking it himself in his helmet, with outrageous results). It might not seem much, but all things considered, it was a change.

In his first banishment he learnt how hard life was without his Crown Prince status, but he still picked fights with people and refused to eat some things because they weren't as high quality as the food he used to eat at the Royal Palace.

During his second banishment, he learnt to be humble and how problems couldn't be solved with just the right idea. He learnt the grayness of morality and life, how right and wrong are not absolute concepts. He experienced the worst fortune (by his own choice) and learnt how to not let it get to him, how to grow enough of a thick skin to get up each time and not take his frustration out on others.

Truly, Xie Lian is a great character. I have read the novel only one time so far, but I'm planning to reread it soon. So who knows, I might notice more things next time around! This was just my first impression Ahah

As for things I wish that were better explored in the story, I'd say Pei Ming's growth and maybe Ling Wen's motives (though I might have just blinked and missed this last part, because I was still reeling from the Black Water arc lmao).

About Pei Ming, I think he went through a considerable growth since the first time we see him, when he tries to save Little Pei from banishment. At first he gave me the impression of being the usual arrogant womanizer, who would do anything to avoid having his reputation tarnished. But blinking to book 5, we see that he's... Idk, it feels like he's taken that shameless arrogance and put it away, especially after interacting with the Rain Master. Their story is extremely important to his development imo. Their shared past held a place in his heart, and it resurfaced when he met the Rain Master again. I think he was deeply signed by her actions in the past, and he never forgot her.

It's shown when Pei Ming refuses to be saved by the Rain Master and refuses the sword she wants to give to her (which incidentally is the same sword that, yknow, she used to sacrifice herself in front of him back in the days). He says (or better, the people around him say) that it was out of pride, because he couldn't accept that a woman saved him. But he never confirmed or denied it, instead he ran after her "to help".

At the end of the story Pei Ming is not as loud and proud of his reputation as he was in the beginning, instead he seems humbled.

I think the Xuan Ji case also had an important role in his development. Considering how we see her dissolve having found peace after talking/fighting with Pei Ming during the Mount Tong'lu arc, I do think that Pei Ming himself must have reflected on himself a bit too.

He also lost his two best friends, Shi Wudu and Ling Wen, so... Yknow, my hualian ship captain must have had some changes.

Especially when it comes to the Rain Master, I feel there are good basis for a good friendship between them, despite the past. The Rain Master never showed open animosity towards him, instead she helped him. It seemed to me that Pei Ming is the one who believed she hated him, but it was never confirmed.

And maybe if you squint there could be more between them, if you're into that ahah. I wish we could have seen more of his grown version, though I do understand that it happened in the epilogue and the book is already as long as it can be ahaha. So really I'm not that sad it didn't happen, I'm happy that there are signs in the background that "hint" at that instead (if they can be considered hints, idk ahha).

About Ling Wen, ehhhh I want to reserve the right to reread and reconsider. Right now I feel like the Brocade Immortal thing was almost unnecessary? I like her background, how she became the biggest civil goddess of the heavens, but I didn't get why she created the brocade. Again though, I might just go back and reread that part later. Tbh I was reeling really hard after the Black Water arc, so I just blanked on some things akfjskf

Did the Brocade serve any purpose in the end? Aside from being the catalyst of Ling Wen's story arc and being one of the two mighty ghosts in Mount Tong'lu (and also giving that nice hualian scene where Hua Cheng was trying so hard to get kissies from Xie Lian ahaha). Idk, I'd like to hear your thoughts about this!!

I think I rambled enough, if you got to this point wow you're amazing! And thank you for going through this long rant Ahah. I hope it makes some sort of sense! Thank you again for the questions, talking about tgcf made me really happy!

#Tgcf #heaven official's blessing #tian guan ci fu #Xie Lian #Thoughts #I have lots of feelings and I can't wait to reread the novel #Gosh truly a masterpiece #So many good points made here and there about so many things #Also Xie Lian my beloved #He deserves everything in the world and he got it in the form of Hua Cheng #I love them so much y'all #Long ass post #Tgcf spoilers

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mdzsfan · 4 years

Text

I’ll be with you till the end

youtube

Warning: Angst, suicide, death and mentions of blood. This is also based on the novel and manhua, so people who haven't read the manhua and the novel might get confused.

L/n Y/n was waiting patiently for Xiǎo Xīngchén. He was taking longer than usual and it worried her. As she waited patiently for Xiǎo Xīngchén, she noticed 3 figures in the dark, cloudy town.

"Xīngchén! What happened?" Y/n asked as she noticed the dried blood on his hands as he put down Xuē Yáng.

"This blood isn't mine." said Xiǎo Xīngchén "Ā-Qìng, boil some water and be careful."

Ā-Qìng was going to boil some water but Y/n already boiled the water for her since Ā-Qìng might hurt herself.

"Thank you, um..."

"Y/n, but you can call me jiě jiě*"

"Then jiě jiě it is then."

"Ā-Qìng please hurry!"

"Coming," said Ā-Qìng as she hurried to give the water to Xiǎo Xīngchén.

Xiǎo Xīngchén rolled his sleeves up and then grabbed a cloth to clean the mysterious man's face. As he was cleaning the man's face, y/n noticed that the man looked similar. After he finished cleaning the man's face, y/n instantly knew who the man was.

"Xuē Yáng," she gasped quietly.

"Jiě jiě, is something wrong?"

"No everything is alright" replied Y/n.

"Are you sure, you seem shock. Are you-"

"I'm fine, just... tired."

"Xuē Yáng, what are you planning?" murmured y/n.

"Ā-Qìng, why don't you stay here, while I help Xīngchén to find some wood...

And look out for him" said y/n as she narrowed her head towards to Xuē Yáng.

"Yes, jiě jiě."

After y/n and Xiǎo Xīngchén were gone for a while, they came back and saw Ā-Qìng running towards them.

"Ā-Qìng, is something wrong?" asked Y/n.

"Jiě jiě, I don't trust that guy. He seems dangerous, when will he leave?" said Ā-Qìng as she ran towards them.

"You already ate his candy, Ā-Qìng. So don't try and scare him."

"Wait... Maybe we should try and listen to Ā-Qìng, she may be right." Y/n said as she tried to reason with Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"Y/n, look at the man condition, he's in a poor state. Plus she already ate his candy and he'll probably leave once he heals."

"Alright, don't worry Ā-Qìng. Everything will be fine." assured Y/n.

A couple of months had passed. Xuē Yáng condition has gotten better but he was still staying with them and had planned to do something with Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"Ā-Qìng, could you come here for a minute."

"Yes, jiě jiě?"

"Ā-Qìng, why are you pretending to be blind?"

"Wha...t do you mean?" stuttered Ā-Qìng.

"Don't worry Ā-Qìng, I won't tell Xiǎo Xīngchén. But please don't take advantage of his kindness, we've already dealt with enough grief." Y/n chuckled sadly.

"Don't worry, jiě jiě. You can trust me" smiled Ā-Qìng.

"Alright, you stay here while I'm gone"

Ā-Qìng stayed for a while until she noticed Xuē Yáng was acting strange again. So she followed him and Xiǎo Xīngchén to see what they were doing. She followed them to a village and she was horrid at the sight. She saw corpses everywhere and there was not a single person alive. They were all murdered by Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"Jiě jiě is probably worried about me, I have to go back and tell her what I saw."

"Jiě jiě!"

"Ā-Qìng, where were you? And why are you running so fast?"

"Jiě jiě! I saw Dàozháng killing the villagers! I think that cultivator that we found is a bad guy and not a good guy!"

"I know Ā-Qìng, that's why we must be careful when we are around him. Understand?"

"Yes, Jiě jiě."

Once everyone was asleep, y/n was going to confront Xiǎo Xīngchén about Xuē Yáng.

"Xīngchén, are you sure we can trust that guy? He might be dangerous."

"Y/n, I already told you this. Until he's healed, he can leave"

'"Alright, I just don't want you to be hurt. You already lost your eyesight, and I don't want you to be hurt again." y/n said as she put her hands on the blindfold where his eyes were once there.

"Don't worry about me, as long as we have each other everything will be fine." Xiǎo Xīngchén said as he kissed her on her head.

After another trip from the market, Y/n noticed a figure similar to someone who she knew in the past as the figure and Ā-Qìng arrived. It couldn't be him, could it?

"Ā-Qìng, are you back?"

"Yes, Jiě jiě."

As y/n went to greet Ā-Qìng and the familiar figure. She realised who he was.

"Zǐchēn." gasped y/n as she ran to greet her long, lost friend.

As they greeted each other, they saw Xuē Yáng and Xiǎo Xīngchén together.

"Why is he here?"

"Calm down, he doesn't know. After Ā-Qìng and him saved Xuē Yáng, Xiǎo Xīngchén has been letting Xuē Yáng stay with us. We tried to tell him but he wouldn't listen." sighed Y/n.

She noticed his gripped on Fúxuě getting tighter.

"Zǐchēn where are you going? Please don't do anything reckless." shouted y/n.

As she tried to chase him, she was already too late.

She saw the sight of him being murdered by his own best friend. She knew it wasn't Xiǎo Xīngchén fault but she felt so betrayed, she cried as she saw the sight of Zǐchēn.

"Zǐchēn! Zǐchēn!? Please wake up!" No matter how many times she tried to wake him up, but she was too late.

"Ā-Qìng, come on. They'll probably wonder where we are."

The next day, Xuē Yáng went to the market. Y/n and Ā-Qìng were planning to tell Xiǎo Xīngchén the truth.

As y/n gently pushed Xiǎo Xīngchén inside and told Ā-Qìng to blocked the doors. She sat him down and tried to sound as gentle as possible but she couldn't bare to tell him because he already dealt with enough grief in his life, his jiě jiě had died, his best friend had lost his sight, and Xiǎo Xīngchén had to dug out his own eyes and gave them to his best friend so he can save him.

"Ā-Qìng why don't you tell him first?"

"Tell me what?" Xiǎo Xīngchén asked them.

"Umm... Do you know someone named Xuē Yáng?" asked Ā-Qìng.

"...."

"....Xuē Yáng? Ā-Qìng, how did you learn this name? Who told you of this? Was it y/n?"

"What Ā-Qìng is trying to say is that man is Xuē Yáng. He lied to us. That bastard, thinking he can take advantage of your kindness."

"But his voice is different, and..."

"That bastard disguised his voice on purpose because he was afraid you'll recognise him!" shouted Ā-Qìng. "He also has nine fingers!"

"Nine fingers?!"

"Xīngchén!" y/n said as he collapsed onto a chair.

"How did you found out he has nine fingers?"

"Xīngchén, I saw it with my own eyes. That man looks exactly like him and he does have nine fingers!"

"But how did Ā-Qìng know? Did she touched his fingers?" asked Xiǎo Xīngchén. "But if he really was Xuē Yáng, how could he let you touch his hand without finding about his broken finger?".

"I told her, and..."

"Jiě jiě, it's fine. It's time he does know the truth."

"Tru..th?" stuttered Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"I'm not blind! I can see! I didn't touch his hand, I saw it!"

"You can see?!"

"Xīngchén, please calm down for a second. It wasn't her intention to deceive you, she was just afraid that you'll not let her stay with us if you figured out she wasn't blind." As she said this she noticed blood was underneath his blindfold.

"Ā-Qìng, he's bleeding. Can give me a cloth so I can clean his face."

"Why is he bleeding?" asked Ā-Qìng.

"It's from an old injury," said Xiǎo Xīngchén. "But if it really is him, why did he stay by our side for many years and why didn't he killed us from the start?".

"He was injured, and he needed someone to heal him!" shouted Ā-Qìng.

"Ā-Qìng, you and y/n need to go."

"Me? I'm staying here with you just like I've been doing the past years!" shouted y/n.

"Go!? Aren't you and jiě jiě coming with me?"

"Ā-Qìng, we need to stay here and find out what he wants. If Xiǎo Xīngchén and I go with you, more people from Yì city will be manipulated by him and murdered. Don't worry Ā-Qìng, you're a smart girl. We believe you can survive and provide yourself a good life."

As they were finished talking, Xuē Yáng had just arrived.

"Open up! I thought you guys were leaving? Well, aren't you going to hurry up and remove the door latch and let me in. I'm exhausted."

"Be patient, Ā-Qìng is just changing."

"How long is it going to take? Hurry up, it shouldn't take that long. Now, open up"

"I'm not going to open the door. Kick it open if you dare!" yelled Ā-Qìng.

"Hahaha..." he laughed " What you said. Dàozháng, don't blame me if you have to get the door fixed."

Xuē Yáng took a bite of an apple, he "brought" from the market and then he kicked the door opened.

"Ā-Qìng, use this chance to escape."

"What about you Jiě jiě?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm staying here with Xīngchén. Now go"

Xiǎo Xīngchén and y/n were fighting with Xuē Yáng. Ā-Qìng saw this as her chance to escape as the other two were fighting with him.

"You think it's fun?" asked Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"It is, isn't it?"

"Shut up, how is this fun?" asked y/n, as she pointed her sword to his neck.

"What was your goal? Why did you stay with us for all these years?" Xiǎo Xīngchén asked.

"Who knows? Maybe I was bored?"

Xiǎo Xīngchén then started to cry blood and it was rolling down his face. As he and y/n tried to attack Xuē Yáng, Xuē Yáng tried to continue his story. After he finished his story, y/n shouted "So what if he broke one of your fingers, does that still give you the right to wipe out their entire sect!?".

"Well, you can thank Cháng Cíán for the Xuē Yáng you see today" he fired back.

"If you wanted to take revenge on the Cháng clan, you could've broken one of his fingers, but why did you have to murder the innocents?" asked Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"It was only 50 lives, but how could they make up for one of my fingers?"

Xiǎo Xīngchén then nearly collapsed but y/n had caught him. " Xiǎo Xīngchén, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Xuē Yáng, I should've never trusted you! You truly are... absolutely... disgusting!"

"Xiǎo Xīngchén, I hate people like you the most. You all act so brave and heroic, and think you guys are saints!"

"Enough!" shouted y/n. "Xuē Yáng, what makes you think that you can shout at Xiǎo Xīngchén this way!? If it weren't for him you would still technically be out in the streets and you'll probably be dead!"

"Let me ask you this y/n, who is Xiǎo Xīngchén to be disgusted by me?" questioned Xuē Yáng.

"What are you talking about?" Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"Well 2 years ago, we went out to kill walking corpses did we not?"

"Yes, but why are you bringing this up?" said Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"Nothing, but it's really unfortunate that you're blind. You couldn't see their faces in shock and the terror on their faces. The family from young to old were all kneeling down to you. Hitting their faces down to the ground and were trying to beg for mercy. If I didn't cut their tongues out they would've been definitely be begging like "Dàozháng, please spare us. We have a family to raise and our children are still young."

"You're lying! You're lying! Y/n please tell me this isn't true."

"..." y/n didn't answer and she remained silent.

"You're lying! You're lying! You tricked me!"

"Yes, who would knew that it was me deceiving you, after all, this time." laughed Xuē Yáng.

Y/n then stabbed Xuē Yáng on the side because she couldn't bare to listen to this torture.

"Fine, if you both don't believe then let me show you a prime example of someone you two knew."

Xuē Yáng then snapped his fingers, and he summoned...

"Zǐchēn" gasped y/n.

As Xiǎo Xīngchén had Shuānghuá against Fúxuě, he finally realised who he was fighting with.

"Zǐchēn....Zǐchēn, is that you?" he asked. "Please say something."

Xuē Yáng chuckled at this sight "Must I remind you of the identity of the corpse you killed yesterday?"

"No, you're lying. Y/n please tell me he's lying."

"I'm sorry," cried y/n. "He's telling the truth."

Xiǎo Xīngchén immediately collapsed to the ground and started to cry blood. Y/n then pointed her sword to Xuē Yáng and yelled at him "Xuē Yáng, how dare you manipulate Xiǎo Xīngchén. What did he do to deserve this? Tell me why are you doing this!"

"It's not like you're completely innocent y/n."

"What... Do you mean?"

"You could've done something and gone to get help but no, you just stood there and watched him murder innocents."

"No," gasped y/n. "Shut up! Shut up! No!"

"Yes, this is your fault if you have gone to get help than none of this would've happened," Xuē Yáng told her.

"No that's not true! That isn't true!" y/n cried.

Xuē Yáng then walked over to Xiǎo Xīngchén and then he started to mock him.

"What's wrong? Is the reunion of three best friends so emotional that it's making you cry?" mocked Xuē Yáng.

"The hilarity is killing me. Look at yourself! You can't even save yourself! You're a total failure to be stuck in such a position and this is your fault!

"Please, have mercy..." cried Xiǎo Xīngchén.

"Mercy? Weren't you going to stab me with your sword a moment ago?" laughed Xuē Yáng.

Xiǎo Xīngchén immediately grabbed his sword and then cut himself in the neck.

"Xīngchén!" cried y/n as she ran to his body. "Why did you this? Why?"

"Haha... look at yourself y/n, who's going to save you now. Why do you even bother trying? Everyone you love is dead."

"Xīngchén!" Y/n cried as she hugged his body, and her tears were falling onto his cheek. She noticed his sword, so she grabbed it and then she stabbed herself, blood started to appear on her hanfu and blood spilt out of her mouth, she then collapsed and held onto Xiǎo Xīngchén's hand.

"Xīngchén" she whispered as she stared at him and held his hand tightly as she took her last dying breath.

Translations:

jiě jiě = senior sister/elder sister

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i-shall-never-repent · 3 years

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If you love a femme fatale in MDZS, here is a canon one for you.

This going to be long post with pictures, please remind yourself that skim reading or read just half of a post and then kick a fuss is unbecoming of an intellectual being humans suppose to be. Any discussion after finished reading the whole post is welcome. Also I’m not an expert on Chinese culture, just amateur with passion, and English is not my first language, if any grammar, spelling, or context error have been detected, please let me know, politely. I’m always willing to learn and improve.

From my observation, there is not a small part of this fandom salivating for a gorgeous seductive manipulative duplicitous bitch. Please believe me that we already have one in the canon, even with a fan. Though the correct term would be a Homme Fatal, a male equivalent of Femme Fatale.

Some of you may think of this man [Pic Source: Manhua]

No, not him. Not Nie Huaisang. This is a plot device for shock value.

You may have ask, then it must be this man right, but he doesn’t hold a fan? [Pic source: audio drama]

Also sadly no, not Jin Guangyao either. This man need to a kick and ‘son of a whore’ commentary from Nie Mingjue to motivate himself enough to kill him, too masochistic sentimental and not enough of ‘seducing’ evidence.

Homme Fatal, by the definition from Wikitionary, is “An ultimately seductive and dangerous man; a womanizer.”

Who fit this description most in MDZS? It’s this man, Jin Guangshan.

Let me introduce you to the real sexy manipulative scheming duplicitous mastermind of MDZS. With a fan. [Pic source: Donghua]

Now you might want to scream, this piece of trash, a man whore, slimy power hungry scumbag of the cultivation society Jin Guangshan? Are we talking about the same man? Yes, we are. And now I will elaborate.

First, look at his face, even though it might be universal agreement that he is not a good man, his appearance and his mannerism are indeed a seductive handsome man. Let me remind you again that these are his children.

From left to right: Jin Zixuan, Jin Guangyao, Qin Su, Mo Xuanyu [All pics are from Manhua]

They are undeniably, gorgeous. Jin Zixuan was rank 3rd in the young master list, that’s enough evidence of his good look. Jin guangyao may get most of his look from his mother - according to Guanyin statue that model after his mother’s face but people still thought it was his - but he still has his father’s charm. Qin Su is a beauty, even though we know nearly nothing about her, and Mo xuanyu’s face is definitely not shabby. Jin Guangshan’s gene is indeed worthy of a Jin’s name.

Second, Jin Guanshan is a dangerous man, might have been the most dangerous one on par with Wen Ruohan, even he was the weaker one in term of cultivation, at least you will have a gist if Wen Ruohan want you dead, you mostly still in the dark and not even wondering on your dead bed that did Jin Guangshan had a hand in your downfall.

People like to forget that this man was Lanling Jin sect leader, sit on the throne in the viper pit call Jinlin Tower. That sect full of backstabbing people, gossips, and a lot of maneuvering in the dark. I’m still curious how in the heavens Jin Zixuan grow up to be the man he was in that kind of environment to be honest.

I can’t remember that Jin Guangshan was the oldest one in his generation or not, but we could assume that he surely at least had a sibling of main family line, because we have Jin Zixun, a man in ‘Zi’ generation who close enough to main family to share the ‘Zi’ character in his courtesy name, raise next to the clan heir as a spare one, and he call Jin Guangshan “uncle” (Can’t remember which one between Bó Fù/older paternal uncle or Shū Fù/younger paternal uncle).

Which mean he already a winner of his generation, when the story start, Lanling Jin was his domain, he was the highest authority over there with no contest, we never see anyone from Jin sect disobey him. Madam Jin can only voice out her displeasure, but can’t do anything regarding of her husband conduct. Their marriage, arranged as they were, is what tied Jin clan and her family together, which mean her maternal clan also on a good term with Jin, she cannot kick a fuss, as a marriage in ancient time never a matter of two people, it’s a matter of two families.

And he was in process of securing his legitimated son place too. He raise his nephew as a ‘second best’, making sure that Jin Zixun will not have any ambition to ‘go above his station’ as we can see in the novel that Jin Zixun is Jin Zixuan’s fanboy or his lackey, he always praising or cheering Jin Zixuan, behave obediently toward his uncle, like that was his job. Jin Guangshan definitely win this one over already.

Now, one did not become a sect leader of a Great Sect and stay in power by being an incompetent moron. His habits of sleeping around may disgust people, but here me out, this is not unusual for a man of his status. His affairs with prostitutes [i.e Meng Shi] are easiest to take care, by the contract of transection, therefore he is blameless in the eyes of gentry class, they could only scold him for being ‘overindulgent’ or ‘lustful’, and he always go for the best one around, so some people might even praise him for his taste. Commoners and gentry class ladies [i.e. Second Lady Mo] are different, sleeping with those gentry class young miss not only a pleasure for him, it also could be a great way of getting information and blackmailing people too. Because if he let the public know which young lady he had already ‘conquered’, his reputation suffer nothing, but the lady in question will be ruined beyond saving, that’s one of the reason madam Qin decide to keep her raped quiet. And the lady’s reputation is link to her family, they will do many things just to keep Jin Guangshan happy and not to be shamed in public. Or if anyone want to have a problem with him, they still need to look at the social standing he had, both from his position as Sect Leader Jin and his extensive connections from all parties he threw. And if you think he would care about non-cultivators’ opinions, you have mistaken, to quote Tywin Lannister, "A Lion Doesn't Concern Himself With The Opinions Of The Sheep". Unlink Jin Guagyao who need his reputation to be spotless or else he’ll get a canon ending, the only ones he need to at least pretend to care are his cultivator peers of the same gentry class.

Sadly, him kicking Meng Yao down the stairs also ‘acceptable’ by the society standard of that era, because it’s Meng Yao who ‘trying to reach where he didn’t belong’ in the eyes of gentry, illegitimate children, if not acknowledged, have nothing to do with their father’s family. Cruel? Yes. But nobody care, this even become a famous joke, enough that people like Nie Mingjue know.

This prove that even he was a handsome man with a bad bitch vibes, many ladies still want to sleep with him, society still on his side, what a skill to have in one arsenal.

He was the only sect leader - in the Great sects categories - to get along with Wen Ruohan or play his card right, compare to Nie sect that lost the previous sect leader to a blatant assassination plot, but could only endure, the Lan’s Gusu was burned, Qingheng-Jun’s death, Lan Xichen need to flee for his life and his clan’s legacy, the Jiang’s Lotus pier suffer a massacre, and then you have Lanling Jin who sit on the fence with no damage.

Then Sunshot campaign happen, he let his heir lead the Jin force while stay at Jinlin Tower, he feigned ignorance over Nie Mingjue’s letter concerning Meng Yao, if Meng Yao die, he would have one less problem in his life, if he survive then Jin clan still get a soldier to be used, no big deal. And when Meng Yao become a spy, this also benefit him greatly, if the Wen wins, he could say that he sent Wen Ruohan a good tool and was force to join the Sunshot side, pulling “Look at how unwilling I was, the Jin not even try that hard you see”.

We already witness he jump in full force to reap the benefit after the Wen lost, Jin Guangshan is smart and skill enough to wait for the clear victory, legitimize Jin Guangyao to take the war credits, with a ‘Guang’ name to exclude him from succession line, with a connection to Lan and Nie clans via Sworn Brotherhood. The best of all is no one can publicly complain anything, Jin clan is the most intact great clan after war, Lan need money for their rebuild their home, Jiang need to be rebuild from scratch, Nie Mingjue lack seniority to scold a man of his father generation, Lan Qiren who is in the same generation lack a position to do so, smaller sects also need his backing to rebuild, want to be on his good side or risking annihilation when no one can help them. He rope in the Jiang clan by Jiang Yanli’s marriage, for the society, he is the benevolent man who honors the promise of two clans even when the Jiang is still in ruin, he is a kind man who help the younger generation, what a good father-in-law to be. Now do you feel that this man is scary? He come out of war, lying in his own house but still emerge with enough political power to maneuvering society, that’s an achievement on its own.

Then he look at Yiling Patriarch, his next goal. If he cannot control this dangerous man then let him be destroy and let him create the one that will belong to Jin clan. Not dissimilar to the opinion in Cold War related to nuclear weapon. First he sow a discord between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, play the insecurities of young sect leader who has no family backing, pressure him with society, even though losing his heir was out of the plan. He used his ‘spare son’, who has a great work resume for shady business, to do all his dirty work and supervise demonic cultivation experiment that if society found out he could have a perfect scapegoat, after all, it’s not surprise for ‘a son of a whore’ with ‘dirty blood and upbringing’ to be like that. Daggling his ‘love and legitimize’ over Jin guangyao’s head to ensure loyalty and obedience. Getting Mo Xuanyu into the clan also sent a message that ‘I can always replace you with any of my spare’. He let Xue Yang have fun with the Chang clan, a revenge massacre while tasting demonic cultivation experiment, win-win for then both, Nie Mingjue went to talk with Jin Guangshan on this matter but Jin Guangyao end up taking all the blame of his father’s conduct, wow. Correct me if I’m wrong here, Jin Guangshan was the one who order Nie Mingjue’s death wasn’t he. If yes, then his plan to establish Jin sect as the main power after the war is really clean cut, ‘get rid of the one I can’t control’.

Let’s be real, Jin Guangshan must be the best politician of his own generation, Wen Ruohan is too strong for this skill to be essential, but doesn’t mean he isn’t good (may be next essay then), Jiang Fengmian wasn’t a bad sect leader, but he just too mild for that political climate, late Nie sect leader was too careless in whatever spat he had with Wen Ruohan, and Qingheng-jun was a fail sect leader. Yes, marry for love must be so romantic, but then he just throw all his responsibility onto Lan Qiren’s shoulder, poor man, what a disaster older brother to have, madam Lan debacle must be a political nightmare.

Jin Guangshan’s mistake was he overvalue himself in Jin Guangyao’s eyes, and underestimated how low his bastard son willing to sink to before rise up, but need to give it up to him though, poetic justice of his death is so iconic. Not many people can claim they die while doing what they love aren’t they.

#mdzs #femme fatale #With a fan #nie huaisang #jin guangyao #jin zixuan #mo xuanyu #qin su #jin guangshan #nie mingjue #my analysis #Real bad bitch of MDZS

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daeva-agas · 3 years

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I follow this manhua series called Cheating Men Must Die. It's basically a series of spitefics bashing stupid tropes and stupid main characters in various stories.

The latest scanlated arc is a broken Otome system where something has messed up the universe. So I don't think this is a criticism of the otome genre, but maybe it's the "otome isekai" that the author is snarking about.

It's just that... there's sometimes wonky Japanese usage it’s making me twitch... I mean, LOL, not sure why this is happening. Maybe because Japanese stuff would be rendered as Mandarin anyway when localized to China it makes the author assume “oh Japan is similar to China” and slack on research?

Like, there were characters who are constantly addresses with "-kun" (君), even when they're high profile persons who logically should be referred to with -sama. I don't know if this is the author’s error, or if in Mandarin 君 is meant to be the equivalent of -sama and the translator is the one who didn’t realize this. My only point of reference is Ikesen, where -sama is translated as 大人 in Mandarin. -sama 様 in Mandarin is often used more like “the same” (as in when comparing two objects, and they’re identical) 一樣...

A cafe staff greeted customers with ようこそ (youkoso). This is unnatural. In restaurants/shops typically the greeting is いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase).

There's also Chinese-isms that snuck in. One of the company names was rendered in characters that is probably normal in Chinese, but is uncommon in Japanese that there’s no good kunyomi reading for it. The translators were forced to use onyomi reading, which ends up sounding a bit strange. The MC enters employment for an agency called 天奥, literally translates to... something like “Within Heaven”, or “The Centre of Heaven”? Maybe? The name the translator came up with is “Ten’oku”. This is unnatural because those aren’t the kind of kanji Japanese people would have chosen for a name, and so you end up with this super awkward reading. If I have to forcibly smooth it out, I might go with “Amanokuma”. That flows better than Ten’Oku IMO.

There’s also a person with an awkward name too, I forgot what it was because it’s been ages ago. But basically same issue. It’s a combination of words that is probably fine in Chinese, but is not commonly used in Japanese, so it ends up sounding strange.

There’s also a throwaway mention where a guy has “braised duck with brown sauce” for a bento lunch. “Braised duck” is Chinese cooking. Maybe it was meant to be special, and it’s not like Japanese people don’t sometimes have foreign style cooking, but yeaaah... “Braised duck” is not usually the kind of food Japanese people typically has for bento. And definitely not a "salaryman” bento. I could be wrong, but in what I’ve seen, Japanese people tend to have duck for guests or family dinners. Basically events where food are eaten fresh and warm. Not in a bento, where it’d definitely have cooled off. Unless it’s leftovers from last night’s dinner. But this is meant to be fresh, so it looks a bit weird? Again, I could be wrong, but in “easy recipes for bento”, I have never seen duck, so I would assume it’s not a common thing.

This is why I’m super D: about this other series where the main character is a time travelling agent. Same premise, but instead of entering “broken story universes”, they travel through time to do... things. I don’t know what. One of the arcs is a Shinsengumi arc and I just refused to touch the series knowing that THAT bit existed. I’ve seen their Sengoku romance one (uwu romance with Nobu because OF FUCKING COURSE) and it was BAD. I don’t want to see bad research, even in something I know less about like the Bakumatsu. This author has even been accused of plagiarizing Shiba Ryoutarou’s Shinsengumi novels. So not only there’s questionable research, there’s also plagiarism.

#manhua

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untamedunrestrained · 4 years

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The Untamed and Mo Dao Zu Shi

These past eight days have been surreal.

I have drowned so fully in this story that it feels like I am just surfacing.

On Valentine’s Day, fandom on tumblr reblogged this fanart of WangXian by qulfeeh and I was intrigued. The reblog was tagged with two important key words ‘Wangxian’ and ‘The Untamed’. In the brush of a few keystrokes I came across the Wikipedia page for a show known as the Untamed that was available on Netflix. The thing that stood out was that it was based on a BL novel and that both the very male protagonists were described as each other’s soulmates and somehow that was enough. So, I opened Netflix and after like a second of hesitation I started watching the show and I didn’t stop. I started at eight in the evening and I watched nine episodes in a row which basically meant I was up till five in the morning. What followed seems like a record for me. I finished all fifty episodes of the Untamed in under seventy-two hours.

I put hardly five minutes of thought into my decision to watch this story and ended up dedicating the past eight days straight. The first three days to the live action drama and the past five to reading the novel.

If it isn’t obvious this story is that good.

The Untamed

The Untamed is a first for me on so many levels. I have never watched a Chinese show before ever and that seemed extremely significant to me because China is actually a neighbouring country yet as far as my mind is concerned it might as well be on another planet. Which seems particularly odd considering shows from English speaking countries like the UK and the US are a staple for me which makes these countries feel so much closer though they are geographically on the other side of the planet. Of course, a major factor is the language barrier but another is the political scenario between our two countries and amazingly this show made me realise how much of an impact perceiving different cultures can have on your perception of their people. It has literally opened up a whole new world for me that I have just realised I have never taken the moment to discover. Well, considering this is me we are talking about, how appropriate, that it would be a drama based on a BL novel that unlocked this whole new world for me.

I have tried reading a Danmei novel before which was awful and it completely turned me off the genre but it did have a side effect of educating we about elements of a wuxia novel which made this xianxia world seem a little familiar but even if it hadn’t, I would have still been hooked.

It didn’t take long for The Untamed to find a new fan and I have been obsessing over it ever since.

The Untamed is an amazing drama which revolves around the love Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian have for each other and the plot is so intriguing that you wouldn’t be able to stop even if you tried (I didn’t because that thought didn’t even manage to enter my mind).

It’s a love story and that is undisputable for me, they don’t say it, it isn’t mentioned but there is this palpable force influencing events and you know they love each other. I have somehow really disregarded how much a show can show you stuff without ever explicitly stating it but The Untamed set me straight in that regard. I doubt anyone who watches the show would mistake it for anything but the love story it is.

Wei WuXian was an instant hit for me. He is a lovable, gregarious character always up to mischief but is someone who always wants to be on the side of justice and I have a weak spot for characters with a hard on for justice. He is just such a lively character who keeps smiling all the time that it’s just hard not to fall for him in minutes. His antics and his demeanour are so charming that you’re hooked. He would have easily been my most favourite character in any other drama that doesn’t have a Lan WangJi.

Lan WangJi is an amazing character. In a world, which has become increasing about everyone voicing their opinions (like I’m doing at present) it is hard to believe that people like Lan WangJi exist. People who are quiet, who don’t speak unless absolutely necessary. He is literally the embodiment of tranquillity and more important he is Wei WuXian’s hero. Like literally he protects him like he’s protecting his life which on second thought he definitely is.

I literally had second-hand embarrassment from how obviously romantic these two are.

Hands down the best thing I have watched in 2020 by far! The characters are amazing, the plot is intricate and it is so, so interesting. I watched almost fourty hours of this series non-stop and I don’t remember a single point where I felt like the story became boring for a second which now that I think about it is, is… astonishing. How can such a large drama be so engrossing? This isn’t binge-worthy there is literally no other way to watch the show!!!

Mo Dao Zu Shi

But after coming down from the high of the first seventy-two hours of being submerged in this world, I was reluctant to leave this world so much so that I didn’t even contemplate it. I had a wide variety of media to choose from. The story is based on a web series by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu that was made into a manhua, followed by an donghua, followed by an audio drama followed by The Untamed. It must speak to the universality of the story that the people are willing to read the same story in so many different formats, I know I’m not done.

But, high up on my list was the source material, one of the articles described the show as being extremely faithful to the novel, which made me want to jump on that wagon posthaste, and I agree whole-heartedly. I read the translation by Exiled Rebels Scanlations and what struck me was how the show and the novel were tonally the same. I had switched mediums but it didn’t feel like a different story or like I was reading different characters which is shocking because that’s literally how good the show was at translating words into video.

Differences

One of the startling things about the book is that it really ties up the plot neatly. There are tons of plot points that aren’t as completely resolved on the show as they are on the novel which I only ever realised after reading the novel. A lot of this had to do with how certain details of the plot are different. A classic example that the reason behind the scars on Lan Zhan’s back is different in the two. In the novel, LWJ whisks WWX away from the Nightless City after he massacres and pretty much beats-to-a-pulp the entire alliance of sects. LWJ then has to tend to WWX so they remain in hiding for three days. When cultivators from the GusuLan Sect finally discover the two, LWJ has to defeat all of them to keep WWX safe and that’s why he is given one whipping for every cultivator he defeated. Of course, since WWX dies on the battlefield in the show this couldn’t be the reason behind the scars so they have LWJ defend Burial Mounds which wasn’t all that fruitful considereing the LanlingJin Clan does end up with a lot of WWX’s artifacts, there was no point in defending Burial Mounds as he couldn’t have kept it up in the long run but him going to Burial Mounds after the massacre at Nightless City is important to ensure they story can credibly reveal Lan ShiZui to be A-Yuan. So, yeah differences, the show focuses on the Wen Clan and the Yin Iron while the novel doesn’t have the Yin Iron at all and focuses on Jin GuangYao. But, despite the differences the story still feels coherent between the two mediums mainly because the relationship between LWJ and WWX that is at the core of both remains central to the plot at all times.

The plot of the novel though is extremely intricate and the author does an amazing job of deconstructing it which makes it easier to understand what’s happening while the show in hindsight does get away with sweeping up certain loose ends.

Of course, the kisses and the sex are gone but I will gladly take that cliff scene in exchange. I was actually shocked that the novel actually doesn’t dwell on WWX’s first death at all. Like, we don’t even know how exactly he died in the novel and this was hsocking given how pivotal that cliff scene is in the show.

Characters

Surprisingly though a lot of the roles of side characters were expanded for the show, the novel seems to have delivered a better understanding of these characters. The biggest example for me being Jiang Yanli.

She has an elaborately expanded role in the show which does highlight how deep her bind with her brothers particularly WWX is but somehow she seems like a timid character among a bunch of very strong characters. What the novel does is that it gives you a very realistic picture of her, she might not seem like a significant influence on the story but her impact is far-reaching. The novel doesn’t showcase much of her character but the scenes that feature her in the book are some of the most poignant ones and incidentally those are the same ones that stand out in the show. I feel like novel did a better job of showing off her strength. While, in the show I couldn’t look beneath her timid demeanour the novel manages to showcase the strength of her love. She cares deeply and loves deeply and the novel manages to show you the courage it takes to love someone so deeply. I definitely admire her character more and in fact I’m kind of in awe that someone who appears so traditional was so awesome. It felt easy to dismiss her character but reading the author’s words made me realise that I would be very, very wrong in doing so.

Wei WuXian might be the luckiest guy in the world to have a shijie like her followed by a husband like LWJ who both seem very determined to spoil the hell out of him. I might be experiencing some jealousy right now.

The author somehow manages to imbue her characters with qualities that makes them real and unique. Like WWX forgetting everybody’s face which is a real world problem that I have never seen anybody suffer from in a novel but just the fact that WWX doesn’t immediately bring his old hang-ups in his subsequent meetings with side characters didn’t only have hilarious consequences but made everything that much more intriguing and credible.

This author also does an amazing job of flipping characters. There are very few villains who are black and white in this story. WWX himself is a character caught in the gray of it all, universally reviled for standing up for the right reasons. This is a theme throughout the show and the novel where bad characters might be good and good might be bad but the author endeavours to show us all sides to a character. While this most definitely applies to Jin GuangYao, I’m surprised with how it resonates with Xue Yang who’s relationship with Xiao Xinchen can only be characterized with the words “It’s Complicated”. I don’t actually know what to think of these two Xiao Xingchen was definitely betrayed but can we ignore the fact that he found himself a companion in Xue Yang his sworn enemy and Xue Yang’s feelings for Xiao Xingchen are enough to drive me crazy. This guy has no idea how frustrating he is, that piece of candy clenched in his fist will drive me crazy for the rest of my life. The entire Yi City Arc is a big mess of grey there are no whites and blacks and the show underscores that with this quote –

Once upon a time, there was a little child who liked sweets very much. But because he had no parents nor money, he could never have such things. So he’d been dreaming if only someone could give him a candy every day.

Don’t even get me started on the music that plays in the background when this quote is being narrated.

There are just so many amazing things about the show and the novel. I mean the show might have actually worked harder to make things more romantic and one scene that I’m surprised isn’t from the book is the lantern scene with both of them making pledges like that particular scene neatly underlined who WWX is and would become. The hand-fastening scene is also not from the book but then there are other scenes and other delights to be found in the novels.

This story is definitely worth reading and watching for years to come. If anyone has any apprehensions about the novel I will be glad to clarify but the everything about “The Untamed” and “Mo Dao Zu Shi” stand in the same breath.

#wangxian #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #lan wangji #wei wuxian #jiang yanli #xue yang #xiao xingchen #posts #myposts #mo xiang tong xiu #the show which reminded me what it was like to be obsessed #once more

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azroazizah · 4 years

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Looking for some new manga to read!! Do you have any favourite manga or any manga you’d recommend? I’m open to reading a lot of different manga since I only began reading manga at the end of last year- so there’s a lot of manga I haven’t read or heard off!! Thanks!!

I........ actually don’t read manga that much guys.....

mostly bc I’m usually so picky fhgkdkfgj pls don’t get me wrong, there’s tons of mangas/manhwas/webcomics that I like, but I only follow a few. I usually follow something that I use as some kind of reference to build my own story, mainly for the art and characterizations, etc so yeah wwww

for ones I obviously read were Fullmetal Alchemist and Soul Eater, ofc, but you def already know about them wwwwww

so uhh I guess I’m just gonna list what I currently follow? I’m currently liking manhwas/webcomics bc it’s easy to read on mobile. these are all that I check p regularly:

1. Gangsta. by Kohske. (seinen, adventure/thriller) Yeahhh p obvious I love this one lmao, it’s mature and pretty dark and interesting even though the plot’s pretty simple. Also, Kohske is cruel. She’s one of mangakas I look up to fgsgsjfd. It’s about mafia fights and drug problems and superhumans. plot is angst-heavy, but the characters are so lovable and did I mention everyone was hot asf? it’s currently on hiatus tho.

2. Otoyomegatari by Kaoru Mori (seinen, romance) this one’s so obvious lmao I like pretty clothes and it’s a great reference for me to learn to be a mangaka. The plot follows the stories of couples and marriages in medieval central asia. I must warn that the art details on this manga is beyond insane. Eyegasm.

3. Kono Oto Tomare by Amyuu (shounen, music) if u like chihayafuru u def would like his one wwwww. it’s about Koto and traditional japanese music. the romance is so cute jhdfsjfgsjkafgjkghgjdgd

4. Akatsuki no Yona by Kusanagi Mizuho (shoujo, adventure/romance). I’m honestly so into historical mangas wwwwww. it follows Princess Yona and her ‘dragons’ on their journey after Yona was exiled from the palace.

5. Boku no Hero Academia by Horikoshi Kohei (shounen). Yeah this one’s maybe the only popular shounen I follow rn wwww but I haven’t checked it since like four months ago or smt wwwww

6. Flawless by Shinshinhye (webtoon, romance). it’s about a story between a blind boy with advanced senses and a headstrong girl. seriously good romance and even the side characters are all so complex and flawed. The male lead is a bit twisted and so manipulative while the heroine is stubborn and v independent.

7. 7 Wonders by Metalu (webtoon, fantasy/romance) idk if this had been translated or no, I read it in my native lang wwwww. it revolves around Indonesian folktale of Jaka Tarub and Nawang Wulan.

8. The Villainess Reverses The Hourglass (manhwa, romance). Aria Roscente was sentenced to death bc of her adopted family’s schemes, but god gave her a chance to change her fate by sending her back ten years earlier, and this time Aria vows to be a real villainess to punish people who wronged her.

I love this one so much bc we have a villain as a protag, who actually acts like a villain. She actually knows she’s evil, is ruthless, but still so charismatic that we can’t help but think that her actions were justified. I’m weak against greatly written villains. She’s also deeply wicked to the core, and not turning into your typical glorified good hero. Did I also mention she’s a strong woman who absolutely doesn’t need no man? yeah absolutely good shit

9. Suddenly I Became A Princess/Who Made Me A Princess by Plutus & Spoon (manhwa, fantasy, isekai). seriously, I normally don’t do isekai guys but I like this one so much wwwww. Basically an orphan fell asleep (suicide?) and woke up in the body of Athanasia, a princess she’d read about in a novel. The catch is she knows the whole plot of the novel and she knows Athanasia’s gonna be murdered by her own father, the emperor. So we follow Athy as she tries to avoid her death. Good. Found. Family. Shit.

Also the dad’s so tsundere hjgdskgfdk I love him.

10. Lessa by POGO (manhwa, dark fantasy) Completely Underrated™. it splits into a trilogy; Lessa, Lessa: The Crimson Knight, and Lessa: Servant of Cosmos. the last one is ongoing. Following the adventure of Lessa, a fallen god who fathered a demonic race called the Demans, and Rano, a human searching for his sister who was abducted by the demans.

This one also got a pretty dark in theme, considering its heavy symbolic with gods, angels, disciples and believers. I must warn that the art is maybe not for everyone bc it could get pretty disturbing like let’s say, Madoka? but instead of cute girls we have devilish/satanic figures lol. But honestly, the art is very pretty, and it speaks. Definitely my favorite manhwa so far.

Bonus, the ones that already completed (or, ehm, indefinitely on hiatus)!

1. Chang Ge Xing by Xia Da (manhua, seinen) currently on indefinite hiatus, but the published chapters are definitely Worth It™. it follows Princess Chang Ge, who was chased out of the palace after a coup, and living as a man while trying to gather strength for a revenge. I’m a historical fanatic I told you wwwww, but also the heroine is so complex, ruthless, cunning, manipulative, but also independent and v charismatic. The kinda heroine I love the most ughhh.

she seduces princesses and even elected as the male lead’s ‘sworn brother’ lol also she has a wife at some point. A++

2. Zetsuen No Tempest by Shirodaira Kyo (shounen, dark fantasy) follows Mahiro and Yoshino as they try to crack the murder case of Mahiro’s sister Aika through magic, wizards, and logic, at the end of the world. Heavy Shakespeare references. if u don’t have the time to read the manga, the anime is a pretty dang good choice too.

that’s it for now I guess? I def forgot a lot bc I don’t read much these days.

if you have any rec that’s similar to these mangas I’d like to know wwwww

thanks for asking and I hope this answers you ^^

#snakepelt #zi answers

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enbyleighlines · 4 years

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Alright, let’s talk about the theme of homophobia in mo dao zu shi

Before I begin, some disclaimers!

Obviously everything I say here is my opinion and not the One True Way to interpret the text. If you disagree with what I say, or parts of what I say, then good! That’s how literary analysis works. Please write your own rebuttal post if you wish. You can even link me. I would be happy to read a different point of view on this issue

I’m not going to be talking about the author’s intent. I’m pro “death of the author” so it really doesn’t matter to me whether the homophobia depicted in mdzs is a reflection of the author’s own prejudice, or if it’s a social commentary on China’s views towards LGBTA issues, or even if it’s just being employed to push a “forbidden love” trope

I’m not going to be making judgment statements about the quality of the writing or whether or not the homophobia is depicted realistically. While that would make for an interesting topic, it’s not my main concern

I’m going to discuss spoilers, so if you haven’t read the novel, and you intend to read it, and you don’t want to be spoiled, please skip this post!

I’m going to be discussing things like societal homophobia and internalized homophobia. Also, I’ll be discussing Mo Xuanyu’s suicide, so please read this at your own discretion!

With all of that out of the way, let’s begin!

Homophobia is undeniably a running theme in the novel and audio drama versions of the story, and it even plays a minor part in the manhua. However, it is noticeably absent in the live action and donghua. In an ironic twist of fate, censoring the gay romance from the live action and manhua made it so that they also accidentally made the cultivation world a lot less homophobic. Because depicting homophobia would entail acknowledging that gay people exist.

Meanwhile, the homophobia in the novel and audio drama are not like front and center but they are certainly there. As merelhyn points out in this post that inspired mine, “…it’s so common that Wei Wuxian rolls with it and try to weaponize the homophobia to disgust people, hide himself and flee.”

While I don't think it's necessarily dangerous to be gay in the world of mdzs, it definitely is not normalized. The word “cut-sleeve” is most often used as an insult. At one point, Jin Ling calls being gay an “incurable disease”. At another point, the story says that “it was forbidden to engage in cut-sleeve behavior in public.”

Okay, so why am I even bringing this up? Basically, I want to do some character analysis of two of the three canonically gay/bi men in the story: Lan Wangji and Mo Xuanyu. Wei Wuxian could get his own post, and I might do that in the future, but this post just concerns Lan Wangji and Mo Xuanyu.

First: Lan Wangji

Personally, I think Lan Wangji struggles with internalized homophobia, the fact that he is attracted to men.

Lan Wangji is a gay man who cares so very deeply for the rules, he likes knowing right from wrong, good from bad, he likes making others proud and setting a good example, and yet he cannot help but break the rules. The Gusu Lan sect doesn’t have any specific rules against homosexuality that we know of, but I think "Do not indulge in debauchery" and "Do not be promiscuous" could certainly be interpreted to include homosexuality. After all, the Gusu Lan sect is descended from an aesetic monk, and their sect’s philosophy is very much about restraining oneself from earthly pleasures.

I like to imagine that at least part of Lan Wangji’s adherence to the rules is due in part to the fact that, inside, he fears that he's not actually a good person. And not all of it comes from his attraction to men. As we see in all the adaptations, Lan Wangji has quite the temper. He is also prone to jealousy and pettiness, like the way he acts around Wen Ning.

And there’s the childish side, too, the side that wants to play hide and seek or steal someone’s chickens when he’s drunk. Or how he continues to be overly sentimental, like how long he grieved for his mother.

And then Wei Wuxian comes around and Lan Wangji falls madly in love, just like his father did with his mother, except it's with a man, and try as he might, Lan Wangji cannot control his feelings. He can control everything else in his life, but he can't control his feelings. And I think that’s the lesson that Lan Wangji ultimately has to learn.

By the end of the novel, we learn that Lan Wangji actually confessed his love to Wei Wuxian before his death. We learn that Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren knew of Lan Wangji’s confession, and that later Lan Xichen even told Jin Guangyao. Yet Lan Jingyi once told Wei Wuxian, “HanGuang-Jun is not a cut-sleeve.” So Lan Wangji’s feelings are kept a secret, just how the details of his mother’s seclusion were kept a secret. They have to be kept secret, or they would ruin his reputation.

How painfully ironic, then, must it have been for Lan Wangji, when Wei Wuxian is reincarnated into the body of a man who is known and hated for being gay. And as previously stated, Wei Wuxian fully plays into the stereotype of the predatory, promiscuous gay man, in order to keep his identity a secret, and to keep other people from getting too close to him.

In the past, Lan Wangji had to struggle with his own internalized homophobia. And then, once he finally accepts himself, he has to deal with Wei Wuxian’s homophobia. It just makes his whole character arc all the more tragic.

Second: Mo Xuanyu

Admittedly, we don’t know a lot about Mo Xuanyu. We know that he was cowardly and timid, that he was gay, that he dabbled in demonic cultivation, and that after the abuse of his aunt, uncle, and cousin, “he often behaved in a crazy manner, almost as if his life was scared out of him.” He was also accused of sexually harassing Jin Guangyao, his half-brother, though the novel never really clarifies if this accusation is true.

Personally, I find it too much of coincidence to be true. After all, how likely is it that Jin Guangyao would have two half-siblings lusting after him?

If you compare Qin Su with the accusations against Mo Xuanyu, there are some interesting parallels.

It’s said that “Mo XuanYu had always regarded Jin GuangYao as a deity”.

It was also proposed by Wei Wuxian that Jin Guangyao and Mo Xuanyu were once close, since Jin Guangyao allowed Mo Xuanyu to study Wei Wuxian’s manuscripts.

Qin Su, on the other hand, is often described with words such as “innocent”, “naïve”, and “childish”, and apparently she fell so deeply in love with Jin Guangyao that she “never gave up, insisting that she wanted to be his wife.”

We also know that Jin Guangyao never again touched Qin Su once they were married. Now, it’s entirely possible that Qin Su accepted that without question, but it’s also possible that, being the persistent woman that we know her to be, that she tried to seduce him many times after their wedding.

And so, if at any point Jin Guangyao did want to come up with perfect rumor to smear Mo Xuanyu’s reputation and get him kicked out, then he could easily take inspiration from his own wife: A half-sibling, who loved him very much, and frequently expressed interest in getting intimate with him, to his continued disgust. If Jin Guangyao did make up the rumor to get Mo Xuanyu kicked out, we still don’t know exactly what caused his change of heart. But we do know that since Mo Xuanyu was already known to be gay, and since he was already known for following his elder brother around like a puppy, it’s quite easy to see how people would have believed the rumor.

At one point, Wei Wuxian questions whether it’s possible for a man as timid as Mo Xuanyu to have taken his own life. Now, I for one don’t like that interpretation. Suicide does not require bravery, just intense emotional pain.

However, I do think it’s safe to say that a man as timid as Mo Xuanyu probably wouldn’t have sexually harassed his older brother, the one he treated like a deity. He was probably just happy to have someone in his family, other than his mother, who didn’t abuse him. So while it’s not 100% canon that Jin Guangyao framed Mo Xuanyu, it’s what makes the most sense according to my reading of the text.

Aaaaand that’s it!

Kudos to you if you actually read this far. Lan Wangji and Mo Xuanyu are two characters I have A Lot of feelings about, so I wanted to condense it all into one super rambly post.

I hope you enjoyed reading it!

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #mdzs meta #long post #character analysis #lan wangji #mo xuanyu

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